Posted by Old Ben
a resident of Shoreline West
on Jun 7, 2013 at 12:15 pm

The two types of persons I have never seen on the Google "campus" are Over-40 personnel and black people. I'd be very interested in seeing a demographic study of their personnel. I'm sure it would be quite revealing.

@Old Ben, Most people I know over 40 do not want to work for Google the way Google expects to be worked for. I've been offered 2 jobs there and I'm 51. The first I applied for, the second was a "networking" thing. Through peer interviews and personal observations it became clear that the hours I was expected to commit to were simply too many if I wanted any kind of home/work balance, and yes, in that order.

I've been working for a "boring" established tech company that lets me work from home a couple days a week and on most afternoons. I've not once been asked to work weekends. By choice, I start from home early, about 5:30-6AM take a break to walk the kids to school and by 5PM most days I've given my first push in the swing, and work is in the rear view. I can't speak for all of Google, but from the parts I saw and from talking with my Google friends, that sort of schedule would be a rare find at Google. More money, yes, but at too much cost.

Generally speaking, youthful exuberance and willingness to excel propels Google forward. Younger women and men seem to have more time to dedicate to go the extra mile, which puts pressure on women and men with families. This creates pressure -- to stay in the game!
About diversity, I've not seen remotely anything close to Google -- people from all around the globe! Most admirably, the % of women at Google is praiseworthy..

Posted by Seen if for years
a resident of Blossom Valley
on Jun 10, 2013 at 5:46 am

The youth factor at most companies is common for companies needing worker bees without external distractions of a rich non-work dominated lifestyle. They work hard and don't have any real distractions of things like family or other things in life. They work when and where you tell them. Give them free food and other perks and the you youngsters will think they're coming out on top. The older workers aren't as easily fooled. Realization of how much of their lives are being lived for Father Google will happen around 30 something. At that time they can take the experience and skills they learned at Google, and apply them at another company that does not require so much sacrifice of one's life for one's work.

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